Fishburn and Hughes: "A heretical Gnostic sect mentioned by Irenaeus, Epiphanius of Salamis and other Christian writers. Their name was derived from the cult of Cain whom they acclaimed for withstanding the God of the Old Testament, regarded by them as the cause of evil in the world. The Cainites possessed an apocryphal Gospel of Judas and believed that Judas, being in contact with the 'Truth', was aware of providence and brought about Jesus's betrayal because he knew in advance that it had to happen. The Cainites stressed the importance of evil in perpetual contest with good for supremacy in the universe, and held a dualistic creed not unlike the system of the Gnostics." (37)
